The foam rubber arrived today from RS. This is cut into circles and now can be added to the tops of the cleaned-up vision strip's cans...

.Back to the power supply now. Most of the focus chain resistors are found to be high and all are replaced. It's important here to ensure that the new resistors can stand the voltage stresses. The 2-watt carbon-film type which I fit are up to the job. They're all enclosed in neoprene sleeves to look 'discreet'.

Above deck, the original focus condenser is retained, with a wire leading off, to look correct.

The terminal panel is dismounted, cleaned, then re-mounted again. All the screws are replaced with new 'correct' short 6BA dome-headed types, As a matter of policy, I always try to replace the tarnished original fasteners with the nearest equivalent new. It also happens to be easier than searching for the original screw amongst a large pile of removed fasteners !

There are three valves in this power supply... The two indirectly-heated MU12/14 rectifiers are tested and found OK. The directly-heated U12s originally fitted to the set had been replaced by these in 1983...

You'll remember the original U16 (2-volt heater) EHT rectifier was beyond redemption. This is now replaced by a new Marconi U33 from the valve stores. This is the direct electrical equivalent.

Finally, everything in the power supply can start to go together. All the sectional screening cans are re-attached. I shall be returning to the right-hand condenser panel later when I have a photo (kindly to be supplied by Steve McVoy in the USA) which will show how the original 1930s cardboard condenser case looked. This I will then reproduce.

Even the parts you won't see must be done properly !  Here we are with the cabinet upside-down, sanding down the base after filling any faults found.

I discover there's a veneer each side of the board that constitutes the lid. It transpires that the bottom one has separated along its edges, probably due to the earlier water attack. This must be properly re-secured, though it wants to bow up. First I have to remove the mirror-bearing felts and wood slats which obscure it. Then, to 'persuade' it to sit correctly, I apply Resin-W inside the crack and gently tap in some small tacks every ½ inch around the circumference. After this it will be solid as a rock.

This bottom veneer will eventually be hidden under the felt and the mirror. This method wouldn't be suitable for use with the top veneer, where even the slightest ripples can cause problems with the finish.

I notice three woodworm holes (only!) along the edge of one of the side boards and pressure-inject these. They don't appear 'live' and may have been sitting there as long as I've had this set.

Then it's time to get started on the 'sanding' proper. I find the new 3M type - a sort of fine glasspaper - excellent for this job. It wears only slowly and is economical in use.

The normal (rigid) rule is to rub only along the direction of the grain. However, with high quality veneers such as these, it's permissible to rub along the direction of deep scratches first to remove these, before continuing along the grain. We see here the top of the lid. I'm finishing with a block to ensure broad-scale flatness.

As I go, I make good any tiny pits or faults I notice with plastic wood, then return later to sand these back.

At last the preparation of the cabinet and its various panels is more-or-less complete. The next stage will be cleaning and 're-blacking' the interior...

First though it behoves me to run a 'preview' of the how the cabinet will look when the finish goes on. To do this, I rub in some white spirit, which also has the beneficial effect of further flattening the grain.

It evaporates off again fast, and that's what's causing the patchy appearance here. I'm glad I ran this preview, because it reveals some more light scratches on the veneer which were otherwise invisible. These are now corrected.

Non-veneered portions of the cabinet (looking light here) will be later appropriately coloured by a full application of pigmented cellulose. The veneered areas will also receive some of this, but in more diluted form (mixed with base coat) to enable gradual build-up of the original tone. Finally, after many rub-downs, everything will receive a clear cellulose top coat.

After a further blow-out with the air line and some cleaning of the interior with more white spirit, it's time to 'black' the interior surfaces. A simple 'satin black' Halfords aerosol can is fine for doing this and one can avoid any need for masking by angling the spray so it can't be seen from the exterior surfaces.

The black provides the basic colour only. The interior will be later finished with a cellulose coating from the spray gun.

For ventilation reasons, I'm intending to do the spraying of this large cabinet out of doors whenever the weather is fine, and on other days carry on with doing the internals. (That's apart from fitting in my other work of course !)

Today I'm taking another look at the sound unit, a superhet receiver of IF frequency 1500 Kc/s. As a matter of course the IF transformer cans are first removed to inspect below. Here brown tape betrays a repair I had to make in 1984 to cure annoying crackling on the sound channel. This involved rewinding this IF coil.

Then the unit is properly cleaned and mildly restored. When a chassis is in basically in good condition like this one and doesn't require replating, it's possible to restore the original appearance and patina of the surface by a very light dusting of spray paint - a mixture of 'Silver Birch' and 'Aluminium' gives an accurate appearance and affords some future protection from corrosion.